


To Kiss and Love and Heal

by quantumoddity



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Body Image, Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Scar Kissing, Scars, Widomauk Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 07:33:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19127473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantumoddity/pseuds/quantumoddity
Summary: Mollymauk considers his many scars and finds he just can't help but hate them. Caleb comforts him.





	To Kiss and Love and Heal

No one would ever look at Mollymauk and think he could hold a scrap of shyness in him. 

But Caleb knew better. He’d been with Molly for a while now and he knew the signs of his mind slipping somewhere it shouldn’t go, somewhere he’d do anything for Molly’s mind to never have to go again. Of course he had dark places inside himself, everyone did. Particularly people who’d had half of the tapestry of their life torn away just like that, who were covered in scars they couldn’t even remember earning, who had no roots and no sense of what was behind them, only what was ahead. 

The time until the party was ticking away fast. Normally it would be Caleb who was lagging behind, either because he’d fallen asleep in his towel after the ‘quick’ shower he’d needed or because he’d gotten distracted by a book waiting for his hair to dry. But he was the one who was ready, in the clean shirt and jeans he’d managed to find in the ironing pile. He was leaning against the bedroom door, scuffing the toe of his boot on the carpet and wondering how late they could catch the subway and still make it to Jester’s by the agreed time. He knew most people turned up late for parties but the idea of having an agreed upon time for something and not meeting it made his palms get sweaty. 

“Mollymauk?” he called again, hopefully, rapping his knuckles on the door, “You ready?”

“No…” Molly’s voice was soft and quiet in a way it never was. 

Caleb bit his lip. That was one of the signs. No wonder he’d been taking so long. 

“Can I come in?” he asked after a moment, hand on the doorknob. 

“Sure.” He didn’t sound entirely sure but there was something like a plea in his voice. 

When he walked in, the first thing Caleb saw was the pile of clothes thrown haphazardly on the bed. It looked like absolutely everything Molly owned, as well as a few things he didn’t, odds and ends he’d borrowed from the twins and Jester, even a few things of Caleb’s which showed things were truly getting desperate. Molly himself was swaying anxiously in front of the full length mirror they’d plucked from an antiques yard. He was wearing a skirt of some gentle gilded material that floated and fluttered, brushing the carpet underneath him. The shirt had drooping full length sleeves and a high neck...but it was all lace panelling and translucent material. Molly frowned and sighed as he pressed the material against his skin, the many white, healed over nicks still visible. Frustrated, he nearly tore the shirt on his horns as he drew it off, throwing it on the pile. 

“None of it works,” he murmured, voice thickening with frustration, “I just...I just can’t make myself ignore them today.” 

“My love…” Caleb hurried to him and wrapped his arms around him from behind, “I know, I know…it’s okay…” 

Now he was being held, now the words had come tumbling out of him and he’d made them real, Molly couldn’t keep back his disappointed tears and he began to weep, leaning into Caleb’s embrace. 

There were times that it didn’t bother him and he could see them as just a part of himself, something to make him unique. But other days, when a cloud seemed to settle around him, he looked at the puckered lines that fell on his purple skin like flecks of fallen snow and wanted to scream. Who had hurt him so much? Who had left him with these scars and a million questions he couldn’t answer in his head? 

It just seemed so unfair. 

Caleb knew, better than anyone really, that there were some things words couldn’t fix. That sometimes all someone needed was the chance to cry until they were hollow inside and be safe in the knowledge that someone would stay by them through it all. Gods above knew that Molly had done it for him plenty of times. He was glad for the chance to repay him. 

Molly’s tears were fleeting, soon he was rubbing at his eyes and turning his sobs into sniffles, but Caleb’s arms never relaxed for a moment.

“Thank you,” the tiefling croaked, sighing shakily as the last of his adrenaline left him, “I’m being stupid…”

Caleb raised his eyebrow, making sure Molly could see it in their joined reflections, draped all over each other and staring back at them. “Okay. Pretend Caleb just said that to Molly after he’d finished an episode. What would Molly say to him?” 

Molly smiled ruefully, “He’d tell him never to use that word about himself. That it wasn’t stupid to feel sad every now and again. That expressing your emotions is healthy.” 

“Very wise words,” Caleb nods, kissing in between his shoulder blades, “Couldn’t have said it better myself.” 

“Alright, alright. The thank you still stands though.”

“You’re welcome...do you still want to go tonight?” 

Molly bit his lip as he thought, “I do. I want to be there for Jester, she’s already crushed about turning twenty five. But I can’t very well go dressed like this.” 

“Unfortunately,” Caleb allowed himself a small smirk, admiring Molly’s current state, wearing only the skirt and the rose pink bra covering his top half, hugging the curve of his chest and standing out beautifully against the tattoos that slipped under his shirt collar. Parts of him were waking up that would have to stay firmly shelved until after the party.

“Hush,” Molly swiped at him lightly but he looked a little pleased all the same. 

“Well...here!” Caleb had a sudden idea, picking up the shirt Molly had only just discarded, “Let’s give this another go and…” he moved over to the door and pulled down his boyfriend’s favourite, much loved embroidered coat, “This can go over the top. And if you feel a little more okay later on, you can just take it off?” 

Molly giggled, wriggling back into the shirt, having to be very very careful on his horns. When he let Caleb sweep the coat onto him, he seemed to stand a little straighter and smile a little wider. He turned and kissed Caleb deeply, then again and again, over and over, fluttery butterfly kisses across his face until they were both laughing and swaying. When they paused, they caught sight of their reflections simultaneously, enjoying their own little moment of bliss, twin to their own. 

Caleb took Molly’s knuckles and kissed the scars there, thin and delicate as cracks in ice. 

It didn’t matter to Caleb where Molly had gotten the scars. What mattered to him was they were theirs now, to kiss and love and heal. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Please consider leaving a comment if you enjoyed this or even if you didn't, let me know what I can do better


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